Hello good Subaru folk. I am curious if any of you have had luck hardwiring the awd on a mid 90's legacy? It is an automatic and to the best of my knowledge uses a clutch pack to lock the AWD when slippage happens and currently it doesn't seem like the AWD is working outside of that clutch locking up. Any other help is appreciated or wiring diagrams related to this system would also be nice.

Yep yours is like the rest. Super easy. 

The factory service manuals are free online.  Get one and find the one wire you need and you’re done.  

Harness is easily accessed rear passengers side or engine bay.  Or right above your gas pedal inside the cabin. 

Yea, there are lots of write-ups. Usually referred to as a center diff lock mod, or something to that effect. Almost all the 4EATs are the same. There's one wire from the TCU to the Duty C solenoid, which either has to be severed, or supplied power, depending on the vintage (Yours is the older version, they switched in '02 or so, but I don't remember which is which off the top of my head). Pretty easy mod.

 

 

1 hour ago, subimonster said:

currently it doesn't seem like the AWD is working outside of that clutch locking up

If you could elaborate on that, we might be able to help you diagnose what the issue is.

It acts like a front wheel drive car with lots of under steer until the wheels have done enough spinning then it will hammer the center diff into lock and then it acts like a proper awd subaru. I did find some info on the mod but the plug in the pictures he had didn't look like mine so I assume that is the difference in new versus old stuff. Never messed with the all wheel drive on this car in 11 plus years of owning it. I did swap a 98 outback trans and rear diff into it a long time ago due to my welded rear diff not liking street driving too much but I was told at the time that i would pick up some gearing with it to help with the bigger tires although i didn't believe that too much it was cheap and I needed a trans and rear diff so I did it anyway.

Yep, the automatics are FWD until they detect slip, and then the transfer clutches engage to send power to the rear. IMO it's a pretty sluggish system, the newer the car, the faster the TCU, and the faster the reaction, but even still they're not great. My XT6 is horrendous for that.

 

If it's gotten worse, it's probably a sign of transfer clutch wear, and a diff lock switch will probably speed that wear.

change fluid, try some AMSOIL